WINCHESTER — A few years ago, Brian Dick approached his son-in-law, Chris Gray, with an idea and a request.
If he were to start a podcast focused on the local music scene in and around Winchester, would Gray help him with the technical side of things?
And so it was that the pair sat down one night in 2022, turned on a recorder and made a 20-minute trailer for what would become The Musician’s Cafe podcast.
The next week, they interviewed Chris Darlington, a Shenandoah Valley native and country music artist.
Three years and 158 episodes later, Dick is still hosting the podcast, and a co-host, Ryan Copenhaver, has come on board. Gray works behind the scenes, producing the show and offering tech support.
And while people hypothesized, at first, that the podcast would eventually run out of people to talk to, the team hasn’t missed a single weekly episode since that first interview in 2022.
“We haven’t scratched the surface, literally, in this city and county and in this area,” said Dick. “… [I]t is astonishing how many people are involved in music in some way, and some of them are mind-blowing.”
The Musician’s Cafe is recorded at Dick’s Frederick County home around his dining room table.
Each week, Dick and Copenhaver interview an artist within 50 or 60 miles of Winchester. They also sometimes interview local venue owners.
“We are booked through almost the end of February right now,” said Copenhaver. “I mean, that far in advance. And it’s, you know, it’s not about Brian and I. … [W]e get the best seat in the house every week, and we have had some really talented people in here, musicians that just have blown us away.”
Past guests include a teenage steel guitar player who headlined the Grand Ole Opry, contestants from “American Idol” and “The Voice” and an 11-year-old singer-songwriter, who Dick described as a prodigy.
Each musician’s story, Dick said, “is just as enchanting as the last.”
“[T]o have these talented people come in, it’s just very impressive,” said Copenhaver. “And everybody that we’ve had, I don’t think we’ve had a bad show any week that I’ve been a part of it. I mean … there’s always good stories, there’s always a ton of laughs.”
Each episode of The Musician’s Cafe is an hour long, with the first 35 to 40 minutes dedicated to talking about the artist’s inspirations, influences, songwriting process and upcoming albums or performances.
Then during the latter part of the show, the artist either performs or provides recorded material to be played.
“Soon as we’re done, they put their phones down and they go, ‘That was fun. That was so much fun,’” Dick said.
Oftentimes, once the recorder is turned off, the conversation between Dick, Copenhaver and their guest continues on, and they hear stories or interesting tidbits that weren’t mentioned during the recording.
“And it’s just a perfect segue to have them come back,” Copehaver said.
What started out as a platform to talk about music among musicians and music lovers has also become a networking tool for local artists.
Dick and Copenhaver said that artists have gotten gigs because venues heard them play on The Musician’s Cafe.
Bands have connected with one another and helped each other out during times of need because they knew of each other through the podcast.
One act landed a residency at the racetrack in Charles Town, West Virginia, following its appearance on The Musician’s Cafe.
“It’s nothing more than free promotion for whoever is here, and that’s really how we pitch it to them,” Copenhaver said. “… It’s just, it’s mind-blowing that it can be that kind of far reaching for what it is. It really is two … 50-something guys that just … love music.”
Both hosts come from a musical background. Copenhaver’s parents taught chorus and band, and he grew up playing music at his church and with a garage band he joined when he was 16.
“I still have a drum set at home. I play a little bass now. I haven’t played in a while, but I still love it,” he said. “You know, I listen to music every day. To me, without music, I don’t know, it would be a completely different world for me.”
For Dick, his source of music growing up was his father playing guitar. He, too, played music in school and at church. And before starting The Musician’s Cafe, he played locally as part of a trio with his daughter and Gray.
“Music, as we talked about on the show, is the universal language, and it truly is powerful,” he said. “… It brings out every emotion that there is. And then when we talk to songwriters, you know, that’s how people express themselves is through music. And I find that amazingly interesting.”
As two rock music fans, both Dick and Copenhaver said that doing the podcast has deepened their appreciation for bluegrass and country music.
Though they enjoy meeting and getting to know all of their guests, some episodes hold a special place in each of the hosts’ hearts.
For Copenhaver, interviewing Brad Divens, who played guitar for the Hagerstown, Maryland, rock band Kix, and sang lead vocals for the Martinsburg, West Virginia, rock band Wrathchild America, was a highlight.
After interviewing Divens, other members of those groups also came on the podcast, like Nicholas Pare, Bob Pare and Jimmy Chalfant.
“I grew up with those, I mean, since I was 15 years old, maybe even younger than that, listening to those guys, and just to have them sitting across the table in Brian’s house, you know, being able to talk with them and ask them questions that, as you’re listening to the cassettes and the CDs back in the day, you would never envision meeting these people … it’s unreplaceable. It’s just amazing to me,” he said.
Dick said that interviewing his friend, Winchester musician Marv Ashby, stands out in his mind because of Ashby’s impactful story.
Ashby has been fighting cancer for four years, Dick said. When he received his diagnosis, he was told he probably wouldn’t make it past six months.
“He’s still struggling, but he still plays every day, and he listens to music every day,” Dick said.
Over the past three years, The Musician’s Cafe has racked up thousands of listeners, and even earned some podcasting awards.
For the team behind the show, though, it’s all about promoting local artists and venues and having a good time. They do the podcast for free, and have no plans of changing that any time soon.
“We’re honest and we’re not pretentious. We’re not trying to put on a show,” said Dick. “We honestly are here for the right reasons, and that’s making sure that artists … have a place that they can tell their story, and just another way that they can advertise themselves … [W]e pull ourselves out of it, make them the star of the show, and I think that’s why it works so well.”
The Musician’s Cafe can be streamed wherever you listen to podcasts. New episodes are recorded every Wednesday.
